Writer Support Groups?

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casnow
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Writer Support Groups?

Post by casnow » December 7th, 2009, 2:02 pm

I've been looking for an online support group (has to be online - I live in Cairo) so I can get help fine tuning and refining a novel I have written. However, I've not been able to find anything. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm willing to read/proof other people's work in return, but I just need someone other than myself to read it.

Thanks,
Cam

Ermo
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by Ermo » December 7th, 2009, 2:14 pm

I'd love to hear other people's answers but I've been using reviewfuse.com.

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ElisabethMoore
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by ElisabethMoore » December 7th, 2009, 2:21 pm

Absolute Write has active forums including one for finding crit partners and beta readers. Nathan has it linked from his blog or you can just click here:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php

Alexandra Little
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by Alexandra Little » December 7th, 2009, 2:25 pm

ElisabethMoore wrote:Absolute Write has active forums including one for finding crit partners and beta readers. Nathan has it linked from his blog or you can just click here:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php
Ditto that. Very helpful.
WIP #1: young adult fantasy, rewriting/editing
WIP #2: young adult fantasy, first draft
WIP #3: young adult fantasy, twinkle in the author's eye

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dahosek
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by dahosek » December 7th, 2009, 2:26 pm

There's also http://www.critiquecircle.com/ although I tend to use that only for short stories myself.

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knight_tour
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by knight_tour » December 7th, 2009, 2:43 pm

casnow wrote:I've been looking for an online support group (has to be online - I live in Cairo) so I can get help fine tuning and refining a novel I have written. However, I've not been able to find anything.
I have this same issue, as I live overseas and therefore can only find friends and relatives to read my work. I tried Absolute Write, but was put off by how nasty some people were. I want honest criticism, but not nastiness. There were also too many people just trying to be nice to others. I prefer a balance of helpful, honest criticism.

HeatherLane
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by HeatherLane » December 7th, 2009, 3:11 pm

What type of book are you writing? If it is YA or MG, then Verla's blueboards is a wonderful resource. If you are worried about critical people (I'm referring to the comment about nasty critters found on Absolute Write) --then I would find someone who posts nice things, and then ask if they want to exchange critiques. It's so hard to find great critters--you might have to search for a while before finding good ones. But it's so worth it in the end...

I find that once I land at someone's blog, I have a pretty good picture of what kind of person they are. And it can't hurt to ask to exchange mss.

Calliopenjo
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by Calliopenjo » December 7th, 2009, 5:35 pm

http://www.writers.com/groups.html

Above is the link to a writer's group that I belong to. Everything is done online. We have people from various parts of the universe in just about all genres.

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a_r_williams
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by a_r_williams » December 7th, 2009, 6:45 pm

Forward Motion for Writers: http://fmwriters.com/index.html

Critique Circle: http://www.critiquecircle.com/

Critters: http://brain-of-pooh.tech-soft.com/users/critters/

Online Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/ I can't speak for the quality of the other three, but this is the one I use myself. If you write SF, Fantasy, or Horror you will be in good company.

francoag
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by francoag » December 7th, 2009, 10:05 pm

I am also looking for a critique partner. I have completed 247 pages of my novel, and it would be helpful to receive feedback from a person other than a family member. I even posted the prologue to my book on my blogsite. However, most of the responses were vague and useless. Any suggestions for a partner or writing group where I can receive a constructive and helpful critique of my manuscript?

linguista
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by linguista » December 7th, 2009, 11:25 pm

Wow! What awesome responses. I am also in faraway land (Japan) so I'll be putting some of these to use at some point.

What genre is your book?

ronalb
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by ronalb » December 8th, 2009, 4:31 am

Having the same problem, I fully understand you. I've personally used www.critiquecircle.com and have learned more about writing in couple of months than I have in couple of years research and reading. Of course, this all based on personal preferences, though. It depends on the person who will read your posts. And the best about it is that one can critique directly on each chapter and not only a summary of dislikes/likes. Maybe you should post couple of paragraph here, so that anyone interested can make an offer...

spinningplate
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by spinningplate » December 8th, 2009, 5:11 am

The best site I've come across, by a mile, is http://www.litopia.com.

You join, then after you've made so many posts to show you're committed, you can submit some of your work for assessment. This work is looked at by the mods (the site is run by a UK agent) and if deemed good enough, you get access to another secure area of the forum ('The Cut') where you can submit your work for critique. If the mods don't think you're quite up to scratch, then you are asked to try again at a later date, once you have improved. This sounds like it could be contentious, but it seems to work well.

The Cut is divided up into different 'houses' - for YA/children, romance, thrillers, literary, non-fiction etc. You're usually expected to critique a few others' work before posting your own and this give and take is what it's all about. The quality of feedback is generally high.

Then, if you stick around, carry on contributing to the forum and such like, you get access to The Pitch Room. This is where you submit your first three chapters for the agent who runs the site to look at. He gives a verbal response in video format - going through your submission, pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly. These videos can be up to 20 minutes long and are incredibly useful to watch, not only your own submission but other people's too. The agent concerned is ruthless - but only in a good way. You learn so much.

Other than that, it's a friendly forum where you can chat about writing and publishing and all things related, enter competitions and generally hang out.

kristi
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by kristi » December 8th, 2009, 1:29 pm

I just did a post about how beneficial support/critiques groups are to the writing process. If you write juvenile fiction, I think the best resource is SCBWI. I found both my critique groups through there and it's been an amazing experience.

francoag
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Re: Writer Support Groups?

Post by francoag » December 8th, 2009, 8:57 pm

Spinningplate, I'm going to check out itopia.com. It sounds like a great place to elicit feedback on my novel. Also, I get the feeling that the critiques are not for the faint of heart...good thing I pretty thick skinned:)

Renolb, If you're interested, you can check out the prologue I posted on my blogsite...Aspiringnovelists.blogspot.com (I really don't want to burden everyone else with my work) :)

I've decided that writing a novel is similar to playing poker (which I do weekly) in that you have to have a little bit of luck and a whole bunch of skill:) Also, like poker I love to hate the game:))

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